Kansas Athletics to give $40 million to academic programs at KU

Big Jay and Baby Jay greet new students as they fill the north end of Memorial Stadium for Traditions Night in this file photo from Aug. 18, 2008. A proposed addition on the east side of Memorial Stadium, at left, would produce revenue directed to a $40 million commitment by Kansas Athletics Inc. to academic programs at KU.

KU athletics to donate $40 million to academics

Pending approval for an expansion to Memorial Stadium, KU's athletics department has agreed to donate $40 million to the university's academic programs. The expansion would add 3,000 seats to the stadium, raising its capacity to 56,000.

Kansas Athletics will direct $40 million — a portion of revenue expected from an addition to Memorial Stadium — to academic programs at Kansas University.

The revenue would come from a proposed club seating addition that would accommodate 3,000 fans on the east side of Memorial Stadium.

Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little has yet to determine the specific allocations for the dollars, but it will support students, faculty and academic programs.

In a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Gray-Little praised the agreement. “This is big,” the new chancellor said.

She said it was a wonderful experience to have this agreement be her first significant interaction with the athletic department.

“I think it says something about the athletic director’s interest and knowledge of what the university’s main function and main purpose is,” Gray-Little said. “I think it says something about a great university being one where academics and athletics can not only co-exist but actually be mutually supportive of one another.”

Gray-Little said it had not yet been determined how the university would receive the money and over how much time it would be distributed. She said the money could support scholarships, fellowships and other programs that have suffered recent budget reductions.

Lew Perkins, KU athletics director, said the new addition could be ready by the beginning of the next football season.

The Gridiron Club, which would be housed in a tower on the east side of Memorial Stadium, is designed to complement the existing westside scholarship suites and enhance the appearance of the stadium from neighborhoods to the east.

The existing suites seat nearly 600 people, but also include areas for the media.

Lew Perkins, KU athletics director, said exact details of the structure were still being worked out. But the seats could run from end zone to end zone and feature both indoor and outdoor seating.

More details on the seats will be available later this month, when the project goes before the Kansas Board of Regents.

Revenues from the sale of those eastside seats are expected to finance the project’s $34 million construction cost, as well as the $40 million academic commitment.

Pricing and other details on seating in the club will be announced later.

Perkins said the project had already generated a fair amount of excitement, and Kansas Athletics had been fielding calls from people interested in information about the new seats.

Perkins and Gray-Little said that while the idea for the stadium expansion had been in place before her arrival as chancellor, the idea to share the revenue from the project came out of a meeting Perkins and Gray-Little had during the summer.

The Kansas Board of Regents, which must approve the project, will consider it during its Sept. 16-17 meeting.

Perkins said he thought the project would be a hit — and hit big. The westside suites are currently sold out, he said. Kansas Athletics has heard from fans interested in more suite space, and has conducted studies indicating that the seats would sell.

He said the university and the athletic department were a family; when one benefits, so does the other. So when an opportunity for a large revenue-generating project arose, he said, it was important to share the wealth.

“We’re all in this together,” he said. “When the university gets stronger, our athletic programs get stronger.”

Even with the announcement, he said, Kansas Athletics continues to work hard to raise money in a difficult environment.

“I wouldn’t want to give the impression that we’re flush with money and money’s hanging out all our doors, because that’s not accurate,” he said, adding that without the project, they could not have made the donation to KU.

Elsewhere, other academic programs have been bolstered by athletics in recent months. At the University of Oklahoma, the athletic department recently announced it would increase its support of the university by $3 million annually in rough budget times.

Currently at KU, athletics provides support for scholarships and programming through licensing revenue, which generated more than $750,000 for KU last year after winning the national championship.

The department also pays for more than $11 million in tuition for student-athletes and maintenance of athletic facilities during the last academic year.

More like this

Regents approve expansion of Memorial Stadium 50 comments / September 17, 2009
KU press release: Kansas Names Perkins Director Of Athletics June 10, 2003
UConn AD to take KU post June 9, 2003
Perkins puts spurs to change September 3, 2003
Mangino eager to get to work June 11, 2003

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kylecisnum1 (anonymous) says...

here's an idea... close it off and make it a bowl so sound cant escape anywhere. not to mention more ticket sales

September 2, 2009 at 11:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

txrockchalk (anonymous) says...

Pretty = View of Hill

Hostile = Track Removed and Field Lowered

Very Hostile = Track Removed and Field Lowered with Closed Bowl

September 2, 2009 at 11:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

I'll say it ...

that's right, dollar signs!

$ $ $ $ $ $ $

September 2, 2009 at 12:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

OakvilleJHawk (anonymous) says...

1] Eliminate the track
2] Lower the field
3} Add more sideline seats
4] Add luxury boxes above the east stands
5] Square off the north bowl
6] Landscape and add more parking adjacent to stadium
7] Demo the slum houses from 11th to 9th and Miami to Missouri streets and build a major parking/tailgating structure
8] Enclose the south end [ still leave low enough for view from upper part of the Hill]
9] Span across east/west stands and hang Dallas Cowboy-like Mega screen
10] Ignore items 5 thru 10

September 2, 2009 at 12:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

chicagoeddie (anonymous) says...

i think oakville might get a job rebuilding the stadium if they like your idea =)

September 2, 2009 at 12:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

MinnesotaJay (anonymous) says...

Definitely a positive development. A win-win no-brainer. Hats off to Lew (AGAIN)!

September 2, 2009 at 12:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

MitchumMan (anonymous) says...

This is great news. I love me some dollar signs! hahaha And txrockchalk is exactly right. It's just a matter of time before Memorial Stadium becomes "very hostile." I love the view and all but it's all about giving your team the best chance to win and the dollar signs! lol

September 2, 2009 at 12:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

rtyoungku (anonymous) says...

7] Demo the slum houses from 11th to 9th and Miami to Missouri streets and build a major parking/tailgating structure

You had me until this...

September 2, 2009 at 12:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

labbadabba (anonymous) says...

We don't have to close off the stadium to have a large hostile environment. If we extend the North Bowl up and add seats where the track is now, you're looking at another 20k seats.

That leaves the south side open to the view. The Horseshoe works just fine for Ohio State...

September 2, 2009 at 12:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

TxJyHwk (anonymous) says...

Not closing off the bowl isn't because of the veiw during football games. It is because of the tradition of walking down the hill at graduation.

September 2, 2009 at 1:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

jayhawkerjoel (anonymous) says...

KU will never enclose the south side. There are too many other additional seating options available. Walking down the hill to an open stadium is as much a tradition at KU as the Rock Chalk Chant (I’ve walked twice and both times are easily in my top ten things I’ve ever done.) KUAC would never shoot themselves in the foot with that idea.

September 2, 2009 at 2:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

trojanhawk (anonymous) says...

"We don't have to close off the stadium to have a large hostile environment. If we extend the North Bowl up and add seats where the track is now, you're looking at another 20k seats.

That leaves the south side open to the view. The Horseshoe works just fine for Ohio State..."

I suggest you look at a picture of Ohio Stadium again...

September 2, 2009 at 2:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )